Amazon to debut 3D hologram phone with four embedded cameras in June

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Amazon plans to release its first smartphone in the second half of 2014. And it'll pack a 3D-capable display, it's claimed.

The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing unnamed people briefed on Amazon's plans, that Amazon plans to attack Apple and Samsung head-on with a new smartphone. The company has apparently demoed this handset in front of developers in San Francisco and Seattle, and we can expect an announcement on the phone in June, the report added.

Amazon will then ship its smartphone this autumn. The device will include a screen that can display 3D or hologram-like images without requiring 3D glasses. Specifically, it'll feature a retina-tracking technology that employs four front-facing embedded cameras. Many reports have claimed similarly.

In fact, rumours of an Amazon-branded handset have consistently popped up over the years. Word slipped out in October, for instance, that Amazon had partnered with compact camera manufacturers Primax, Liteon, and Sunny Optical. The companies were allegedly developing advanced sensors that would allow 3D gesture and eye-tracking control.

Amazon's smartphone is largely expected to include these sensors. It's also supposedly boast six compact camera modules, four of which are VGA cameras. They'll sit along the device's four corners and enable that highly-accurate 3D-gesture and eye-tracking. There will also be a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 12-megapixel front-facing camera.

Other rumoured specs in relation to Amazon's first smartphone have included a 4.7-inch display and quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor.